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Post by Kimby on Feb 23, 2010 17:02:16 GMT
I have seen the Aurora borealis only a few times in my life. One spectacular night in the mid-1970's in Wisconsin (which is pretty far south for such a good show), and one pretty good display in Montana about 20 years ago.
Most of the time, I am in places where there's just too much "light-pollution" at night to even know if northern lights are happening...and I live in a relatively dark place. Most folks in the US have no chance of seeing the night skies, because of artificial lighting.
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Post by bjd on Mar 3, 2010 17:36:36 GMT
I just found these two pictures on the BBC website:
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 3, 2010 21:13:25 GMT
Beautiful pics, Bjd. Are they actual satellite photos, or computer imaging?
Kimby, I've seen the northern lights as well, but I was a really little kid. When I was four and five my family lived near Fairbanks. I vaguely remember the lights, which my mother informs me were called "Margaret's rainbow" by me and my brother. This was for a neighbor lady whom we liked a great deal. But it's a source of great frustration to me that I can't really reproduce the sight in my memory. You are so lucky to have been old enough to really fix them in your mind.
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Post by bjd on Mar 4, 2010 8:30:07 GMT
Bixa -- this is what is says on the website: "The images of the Indian Ocean and North America were produced by researchers at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center using images from the Terra satellite more than 700km (435 miles) above the Earth's surface.
The Blue Marble series was pieced together from thousands of images taken over many months by the satellite's remote-sensing device Modis, of every square kilometre of the Earth's surface."
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2010 23:36:09 GMT
As the month of March moves towards Springtime,the Sun has some traction. As it mounts higher in the southern sky,it brings to our house some real warming at last. All are prepared to welcome it,but none moreso than our very old cat who at this time begins to organize her life around the strengthening sunlight.Throughout the morning she stretches and moves across the room. She serves as a kind of feline sundial in her daily quest for warmth across 25 feet of floor.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2010 1:24:30 GMT
All you stargazers out there,if it's clear where you are,go check put MARS just below the moon,it's so RED tonight. I believe I read that this is the closest to the earth it's going to be until 2012!!
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Post by lola on Mar 26, 2010 3:13:42 GMT
Foo. Cloudy here. Maybe tomorrow. Thanks for the tip, Casimira!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2010 10:08:00 GMT
It was amazing! So,so red! We watched walking home from dinner and then sat on the balcony for a long time looking at it through just plain ol' binoculars,it was that close! I don't know that it will be that close tonight. Where the heck is KIMBY,she would have all the info we need!!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2010 9:43:48 GMT
Full moon Monday night,3/29,known as the Worm moon. Venus returns this last week of the month,quite low in the Western sky after sunset,joined by Mercury just below it.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 27, 2010 15:53:10 GMT
Drat! I need to check the Science Dock more often. I could kick myself for not seeing Mars so close.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2010 15:01:00 GMT
FULL MOON tonight good people. ('twas huge last night...)
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 29, 2010 17:16:34 GMT
Couldn't see the moon last night as it was heavily overcast here. However, I did see the light of the moon. We had repeated power outages so going outside without artificial light and seeing the ambient moonlight diffused by the cloud cover was wonderful.
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Post by Kimby on Mar 30, 2010 9:01:36 GMT
Full moon Monday night,3/29,known as the Worm moon. Venus returns this last week of the month,quite low in the Western sky after sunset,joined by Mercury just below it. This is what spaceweather.com has to say about the Worm moon: Space Weather News for March 29, 2010 spaceweather.comFIRST FULL MOON OF NORTHERN SPRING: According to folklore, tonight's full Moon has a special name--the Worm Moon. It signals the coming of northern spring, a thawing of the soil, and the first stirrings of earthworms in long-dormant gardens. Step outside tonight and behold the wakening landscape. "Worm moonlight" is prettier than it sounds. New subscribers may sign up for free space weather alerts by subscribing to the Space Weather mailing list, a free service of Spaceweather.com at spaceweather.com/services/And it's too cloudy and rainy here to see it.
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Post by spindrift on Mar 30, 2010 9:21:40 GMT
It was too cloudy and rainy to see it from the uk....pity.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2010 9:49:08 GMT
We saw it rising and watched it for quite a bit on and off out on the balcony. I posted a pic in the image bank but,will post another one in here.My husband took some B&W's I have yet to see but,am sure are great because he's such a 'stellar' photographer.( ) Good to see you Kimby!
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Post by Kimby on Mar 30, 2010 16:32:40 GMT
casi, it appears we were both night owls last night. what's your excuse? insomnia? (mine was husband on call, working overnight, chance to release pent up internet jones-ing)
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2010 10:42:59 GMT
casi, it appears we were both night owls last night. what's your excuse? insomnia? (mine was husband on call, working overnight, chance to release pent up internet jones-ing) (I am generally up by 5a.m.,of late,a bit earlier. I am more of a morning owl.When you see me on here this early,I have already been to sleep,it is never a result of having stayed up. Albeit,only 4 or 5 hours of sleep,but,5 hours is adequate for me. Yes,I do have insomnia in bouts but always manage to get some sleep.) For the month of APRIL (f rom the Farmer's Almanac): April is a month of striking conjunctions. Mercury, joined by brilliant Venus,is at its best of the year,as both gain height in the western dusk 40 minutes after sunset,and stand together from the 1st to the 10th. On the 15th,the crescent Moon hovers very close to Mercury, 10 degrees high in the fading twilight. Mars again loses half of its brilliance as it passes near the Beehive star cluster from the 16th -19th,use binoculars. The Moon moves on to meet the orange Planet on the 21st,as Mercury fades after mid month. Venus keeps improving,floating just to the left of the famous Pleiades "Seven Sisters",star cluster from the 23rd to the 26th. For early risers,Jupiter emerges in the east,just before dawn.
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Post by Kimby on Apr 11, 2010 2:07:21 GMT
Space Weather News for April 10, 2010 spaceweather.comSUNGRAZING COMET: This morning, the sun had a comet for breakfast. The icy visitor from the outer solar system appeared with little warning on April 9th and plunged into the sun during the early hours of April 10th. One comet went in, none came out. Visit spaceweather.com to see a death plunge movie from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.SOLAR WIND STORM: The first major solar wind storm of the new solar cycle has come to an end. The event, which stretched from April 4th to April 8th, ignited auroras over both poles and many points in between. Highlights include Northern Lights over an active volcano in Iceland, green skies in Minnesota, and a kaleidoscopic display of Southern Lights over Antarctica. Start browsing the updated aurora gallery here: www.spaceweather.com/aurora/gallery_01apr10_page5.htmNew subscribers may sign up for free space weather alerts at the Space Weather mailing list, a free service of Spaceweather.com at spaceweather.com/services/ SPACE WEATHER ALERTS: Would you like to turn your phone into a space weather monitoring system? Sign up for Space Weather PHONE: spaceweatherphone.com
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2010 11:30:57 GMT
So cool Kimby,thanks!!! Have you done the phone thing? I'm a little confused about. (I am going to make my most fervent appeal to my brother on my trip to NY to get him to let me have his telescope that he never uses which was a gift from his ex-fiance and currently sits in a closet.)
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Post by Kimby on Apr 11, 2010 15:19:04 GMT
No, I don't have a "real" cell phone, just a pre-paid phone so this wouldn't be practical for me. But I posted it for others who are more techno-advanced than I am.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2010 2:18:10 GMT
Full 'Pink' Moon on Wednesday night,4/28, Tonight's moon awfully pretty as it's waxing...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2010 11:24:53 GMT
The moon was looming large early this a.m.,full tonight.
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 29, 2010 17:26:39 GMT
It was gorgeous here last night @8:45 -- low in the sky, big, and quite golden. I went out and took a bunch of pictures which came out looking like all my other moon pictures. I need a tripod or a better camera.
I think there are ways to attach a camera to a telescope -- that would be cool.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2010 1:35:51 GMT
That would be cool to attach a camera to a telescope. All the more reason to persuade my brother to give it up to me. I have been working on my strategy. It will happen.
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Post by Kimby on May 23, 2010 5:48:53 GMT
There were northern lights in the northern latitudes while we were in the subtropics - pictures from Bozeman, Montana were posted on the internet. I missed them! And it happens so infrequently. Dammit.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2010 15:25:30 GMT
There were northern lights in the northern latitudes while we were in the subtropics - pictures from Bozeman, Montana were posted on the internet. I missed them! And it happens so infrequently. Dammit. Drat!! Sorry you missed them too...I have never seen. Full moon this week,on the 27th,Thursday. ( update on the telescope from my brother,he is "thinking" about it. )
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Post by Kimby on May 25, 2010 18:01:47 GMT
Potential for more Northern Lights this week:
AURORA WATCH: A magnetic filament on the sun erupted yesterday (May 24th), and the blast hurled a coronal mass ejection in the general direction of Earth. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras around May 27th when the advancing cloud is likely to deal a glancing blow to our planet's magnetic field.
(Hope the full moon doesn't wash them out!)
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2010 23:45:04 GMT
Yes, full FLOWER moon,Thursday night.5/27.
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2010 22:57:54 GMT
Just a reminder,FULL moon tonight. Doubtful will be able to see from here,passing thunderstorms may interfere...but,will be watching.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 3, 2010 17:28:45 GMT
Something else to watch for: Space Weather News for June 3, 2010 spaceweather.comEvery summer since the late 19th century, Earth's polar skies have lit up with gossamer, electric-blue clouds, twisting and rippling in the twilight sky. They're called noctilucent ("night-shining") clouds because they can be seen after dark. The origin of the clouds, which hover at the very top of Earth's atmosphere in close proximity to space itself, is uncertain. They have been linked to causes as varied as meteoroids, climate change, and the icy exhaust of the space shuttle. News flash: The 2010 noctilucent cloud season has just begun in the northern hemisphere, with sightings over Russia, Scotland and Denmark. Although noctilucent clouds were once a phenomenon of high latitudes only, in recent years they have been sighted in the United States as far south as Colorado and Utah. Visit spaceweather.com for photos and observing tips.
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